UK primary school teachers youngest in OECD

Britain's primary school teachers are by far the youngest among developed countries, and its teachers across all levels are younger than their European counterparts, the OECD's annual survey of international education has found.

About 60% of UK primary school teachers are 40 or younger, and 31% are 30 or younger. Across OECD member nations an average of 13% of primary school teachers are under 30.

In secondary schools only Brazil and Indonesia have more teachers 40 or below than the UK, and only Indonesia has more under 30.

In Italy, 85% of primary teachers are over 40, in Sweden 72% and in Germany 71%. In Finland, Germany, Austria, Spain and Sweden fewer than 10% of secondary school teachers are 30 or younger. The OECD data covers both state and independent schools.

In its analysis the OECD reported: "The relatively young teaching force in the UK stands in stark contrast to the situation in many European countries where inflexible employment conditions coupled with declining youth populations have led to ageing teacher populations."

Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's deputy director for education and skills, said there were advantages and disadvantages for the UK. Younger teachers were more likely to have more recent, up-to-date training, while older teachers were more experienced.

Part of the reason may be the structure of teachers' pay in the UK. In England the starting salary for a primary school is above the OECD average, and the salary with 10 years' experience is about £6,000 higher. "But in England, teachers' salaries at the top of the scale do not increase when a teacher has had more than 10 years' experience, so teachers salaries eventually fall behind the OECD average of $45,602 [£29,484]," the OECD noted.

It also found that young people in the UK spent more time out of work or education and training than their OECD counterparts, and substantially longer than those in the highest performing member economies.

A person aged between 15 and 29 in the UK can be expected to spend 8.8 years in work, 6.2 years in education or training, and 2.3 years unemployed or economically inactive. The EU average is 2.2 years inactivity, in Germany it's 1.7 years, while young people in the Netherlands spend just 1.1 years unemployed or economically inactive.

Worst off in the UK is the 20- to 24-year-old age group: between 2000 and 2011 the percentage of those not in education, training or work rose from 15% to 19%.